Five Healing Cold Process Lard Soap Recipes

Lard Soap Overview

Now a lot of people when they think of lard soap they think of their grandmas and great grandmas doing laundry with a hard white bar of soap drying out their hands and getting cracked knuckles. Now it is true that is how lard soap used to be, but now with the help of lye calculators and soap geniuses we have now come up with a thing called superfatting. Which means there is more oils in it than lye so after the soaping process takes place there's still oils left over making it actually nourishing to your skin, and hydrating.

Lard is an animal fat that is most commonly used in soap making throughout history. It is cheap, inexpensive, and contributes to soap hardness, and makes a nice white bar. A nice white bar is attractive, and works nicely for those who want to color their soap.

These soaps will be made using the cold process process. For those of you who do not know how to make cold process soap I have a tutorial here.

Cold Process Soap Safety

When making cold process soaps you will be using an ingredient called lye. Lye is a very dangerous and caustic chemical that can cause serious injuries if not handled correctly. Below is a basic list of rules you should follow when working with lye.

1. Wear protective gear, you do NOT want this on your skin (gloves that go decently high, an apron is also nice.)

2. Lye releases a gas that you do not want to breath in, so when making soap make sure to do so either outside or in a well ventilated area.

3. Do not do this process around children or pets, breathing in the chemical is very bad for them as well.

4. When mixing your lye and water solution you want to do so in a heat safe bowl, I personally use a big glass mixing bowl.

5. Work with lye on a heat proof surface, even if your bowl won't melt the solution does reach close to 200 degrees Fahrenheit so the bowl still gets very hot.

6. Wear glasses or protective eye wear.

7. ALWAYS add your lye to your water, if you do so the other way around it will explode and you will have lye water on everything.

8. Never use lye in aluminum the two thing chemically react and it's not pretty.

9. Make sure you allow your soap to cure for at least four weeks though I usually wait six just to be safe. If you use it to soon and the soap hasn't cured yet you can get lye burns by using it.

Cold process soap making is a dangerous process if you don't take the proper measures. However if you follow the rules above (there may be a few extra though most cold process tutorials go over them more in depth) cold process soap making is a lot of fun and very rewarding.

Hydrating Lard Soap Recipe

This will be a hard white bar of soap with a stable creamy lather. The lard and beeswax in this recipe will work together in making a nice long lasting bar of soap. The shea butter in this recipe will work nicely with the lard making it super hydrating and high in different vitamins your skin will love. This recipe is great for people with dry skin, or skin conditions, though should be used with caution for people with acne prone skin. It won't clog your pores but it won't help.

16 oz olive oil

16 oz lard

16 oz coconut oil

1.5 oz beeswax

4 oz shea butter

7.4 oz lye

20 oz water

Slow to Trace Lard Soap

This soap is a wonderful recipe and one of my personal favorites. The lard as always makes a nice white bar of soap and all of the ingredients are easy to find and won't break the bank. The true benefit of this recipe though is for you soap artists out there. The oils in this recipe make it very slow to reach trace, so you have plenty of time to add colorants, exfoliates, or any other decoration your heart desires! Though because it is slow to reach trace i don't recommend for people new to soap making.

3.3 oz olive oil

3.3 oz canola oil

2.2 oz coconut oil

2.2 oz lard

1.49 oz lye

4 oz water

Wonderful Lather Lard Soap

This soap will have a nice stable lather, both creamy and bubbly because of the combination of lard and coconut oil. This soap is great for people who have dry skin, and the hard bar will last a long time. Not suggested for those with acne prone skin as the combination of lard and olive oil can clog your pores, but it is super nourishing for the rest of your body and offers sun protection!

7.6 oz olive oil

7.6 oz lard

6.3 oz coconut oil

2.5 oz sunflower oil

1.3 oz castor oil

3.6 oz lye

8 oz water

1.1 oz scent

Super Hydrating Lard Soap

This soap will be extremely nourishing to your skin because most recipes are 5% superfatted where this one is 7% superfatted. That means there's 7% more oils than there is lye. This bar will not be as hard as most lye soaps, but it will still be about as hard as your average bar of luxury soaps. Perfect for people with dry skin, sunburn, or other skin conditions.

8 oz coconut oil

10 oz lard

8 oz palm oil

5 oz olive oil

2 oz safflower oil

4.5 oz lye

10.5 oz water

2 oz scent

Healing Lard Soap

This lard soap is highly suggested for those out there who have acne prone skin. The combinations of oils are perfect for cleaning your pores and not clogging them like some other soaps do. The tea tree oil can be replaced with any other kind of scent but for those making this recipe to help with their acne tea tree oil is the best choice, though lavender oil is also good. For those who don't have acne prone skin this recipe works great for other skin conditions, and can help speed the healing process of stretch marks.